Referendum

They are voting in a referendum here tomorrow and it has been declared a public holiday (no Pamela, how will we manage?)

There are some quite fundamental changes proposed, including land reforms and women's right to abortion so it's a big deal. The president is, naturally, behind the 'Yes' campaign and they have been working vigorously. A usual trick is to book up all possible venues for rallies in the run up to the vote so that the opposition can't gather. Neat! We passed one of their rallies in the local Uhuru Park on Sunday in fact; lots and lots of mostly men and a cavalcade of vehicles all flying their flags and tooting their horns. The pres has also declared that if the 'Yes' vote wins (and of course it will, it can't not!) Thursday will also be a public holiday. And the word on the street, well, Pete's office anyway, is that the rest of the week will in fact be a public holiday in order to keep people off the street and hopefully discourage any violence of the sort they had last election.

Anyway, you can find out more about it here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/16/kenya-terrorism-referendum

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-10849982

PS Mum don't worry, we'll likely be staying in as everything will be closed in any case!